Amla Navami (Part II)

The story about Amla Navami is as follows:

A trader lived in Benaras. He was very rich and did not need anything in life. But, he did not have a child. That is why he was worried about who will inherit his property after his death. One day, a woman came to meet his wife and said, “You should sacrifice a child. On Saturday, they should burn somebody’s house. Then, they would beget a child.”

The woman, who had come to meet the trader’s wife, was a wicked woman and jealous of her. The wicked woman used her weakness and tried to make her get into trouble. The trader’s wife told what the woman had said. The trader was angry and said, “Mad Woman, don’t even think of it. Don’t entertain the friendship of such women because if we follow what she said, we would incur the highest sins. We would also be tortured for several years in hell. Thus, even if we beget a child or get the wealth of the world, we should never even think of such things.”

The wicked woman went about telling everybody that the trader’s wife did not have a child. Because the wicked woman brainwashed everybody, they began to taunt the trader’s wife. The wicked woman was driving the trader’s wife to do some mistake or sin.

The trader’s wife had a weak mind and began to look for an opportunity to do what the wicked woman had said. The trader’s wife ensnared a neighbor’s child, killed him and threw the body into a well. The next thing she did was she set fire to another neighbor’s house. Both the neighbors cried for long, then cursed the person, who had done the sinful act and sat silently in their houses.

If someone causes trouble to innocent people, the latter’s curse definitely strikes the perpetrator of the damage. Soon, the trader’s wife acquired leprosy. She could not tolerate the agony of the disease and her guilt was disturbing her. She began to trouble her husband like a mad woman. The child, she murdered, would come to her dreams with fearful appearance. She also felt that someone was burning her. Frequently, she began to try suicide and the trader was finding it difficult to handle her.

The trader’s wife would blame her neighbors that they would taunt her about her childlessness, so, she wanted to commit suicide. The neighbors were now frightened. But, she was not successful in committing suicide. It was just a threat to others.

To be continued…